Supposed Fatwa against Iranian Rapper Shahin Najafi *”We Will Continue with Our Work”*

Iran’s grand ayatollah has issued what many have interpreted to be a fatwa against the rapper Shahin Najafi, who has lived in Germany for the past seven years. In this interview with Shahram Ahadi, Najafi gives his take on the situation Shahin Najafi is an Iranian rapper who has lived in Germany since 2005. His…

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Diam’s, France’s female rapper: the rebel submits to Islam

France’s currently most successful rapper, Diam’s, has turned to an entirely religious life. The 29-year-old woman, who converted to Islam in 2000, has so far not displayed her religion publicly or reflected about it in her lyrics. She was rather known for her rebellious and feminist position, voicing the needs of youths from Paris’s banlieues….

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Yusuf Islam embarks on his first tour in 33 years

Musician and song-writer Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, is going on tour again after a 33-year break. After converting to Islam in 1977, he stopped performing altogether, and only resumed his musical career around 2001. He slightly changed his position on the permissibility of music in Islam, and from then on performed music…

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    Dutch broadcaster airs “Islam song” for children

    Kinderen voor Kinderen (Children for Children), the children’s choir of Dutch public broadcaster VARA, has composed a song featuring Islam. The well known choir releases a CD every year that they subsequently sing on VARA. On Tuesday evening the annual performance included a song with the refrain “Allah Akbar”. The song has drawn criticism from…

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    Jihad in Web 2.0: Interactive Propaganda

    For years now extremist websites have been spreading the word of Osama bin Laden via his video messages. Now the propaganda of hate and violence is also turning increasingly to the so-called Web 2.0. To the strains of Arab-Islamic melodies a masked Muslim sings about Jihadism, his song providing the background to images of Islamic…

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